A strong showing heats up the competition in the contest to be the best Ethiopian restaurant in San Diego.

Stop three on my comprehensive survey of San Diego’s Ethiopian dining scene was Harar Ethiopian Restaurant (2432 El Cajon Boulevard, 619-295-3735). It wasn’t too hard to find, since it’s just down the street from Awash Market. On the outside, Harar …

No such thing as too late for breakfast here

Ah! Can’t believe my luck. I’ve been wandering in downtown La Mesa looking for lunch in all the wrong places, heh heh. Actually, it’s eight at night and I'm looking for dinner, and truth is this place is pretty alive …

Dishes from Rancho Bernardo Inn’s much-anticipated resto refresh

Last week, I had the opportunity to tour the construction site for AVANT, a new seasonally driven farm-to-table restaurant being installed at the Rancho Bernardo Inn (17550 Bernardo Oaks Drive, Rancho Bernardo). It’s a site I’m quite familiar with. Many …

Secret restaurant in the back of a North Park market has good food, dingy vibe.

For the second phase of my comprehensive Ethiopian excursion, I called upon a friend who claims expertise in these matters. She swore up and down that Awash Market (2884 El Cajon Boulevard, 619-282-8280) was the place to go. “Atmosphere 1, …

À la Disney: Is Good Time Design taking over the neighborhood?

So. El Vitral really has closed. For months the bar-eatery with 220 tequilas to choose from and the fabulous view of the ballgames was either having a kitchen fixed or getting organized to start up again. That was then. Now, …

The mussels stand up to the rest of the menu at this downtown restaurant.

Much has been written about Saltbox (1047 Fifth Avenue, Downtown San Diego, 619-515-3003) since it opened up late-2011 on the second story of the Klimpton-run Hotel Palomar, including a recent review by San Diego Reader’s Ian Pike. However, not much …

Eight local chefs plan ultimate pairing dinner around pork

It’s always fun hanging with chefs. I’ve had the honor and pleasure of interviewing many in my day, but the most enjoyable gastronome intermingling I’ve experienced have been during after-work chef meet-ups. One-on-one interviews are friendly enough, but mostly business-like. …

Hotel Del delivers cocktails, apps for price of a Bud and a couple of burgers

Seeing we’re in Coronado (see Sticker Shock), and seeing we’ve spent, like $35 for burgers…it’s now around seven and Carla suddenly says “Let’s go get you a French and Italian at the Del. Just in time for sunset.” “The…the Del?” …

Beginning the search in City Heights

New mission: to eat at all the Ethiopian restaurants in town and pick a winner. This was partly inspired by Garrett Harris blogging about running, and partly by a friend who asked me which I liked best. I had no …

Around the world in one meal

At the end of a narrow walkway tucked between two shops on Girard Avenue in La Jolla is a sweet little gem of a restaurant called Finch's Bistro and Wine Bar. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/2013/may/27/46366/ I first discovered Finch's a few months ago, …

Venerable bar in Coronado still has "the best burgers." Eat them there, and save

This Memorial Day Weekend, it was kind of appropriate to be swigging a Bud Light here at Danny’s (Danny’s Palm Bar and Grill, 965 Orange Avenue, Coronado, 619-435-3171). http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/28/46390/ The names and photos of Navy Seals who didn’t make it …

Imig’s Kitchen and Bar at the Lafayette Hotel (2232 El Cajon Boulevad, 619-780-0358) has been steadily goofing with their menu since I first went there last fall. For a while now, they were serving a modified bistro menu of smaller …

B.B. Blues Bar H.H. delivers musiculture, cheap booze, and pulled pork to die for

“This joint is dedicated to the memory of Jake Blues.” It’s a gold-lettered sign above this bar, the B.B. Blues Bar. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/25/46309/ Jake Blues? We’re in the belly of the beast here, the venerable (okay only eight years old in …

Mission Hill's sake house of record adds a few tables, makes getting a seat that much easier.

Big news from the world of small restaurants: Izakaya Masa (928 Fort Stockton Drive, 619-542-1354) added a new wing to the dining room that increases the miniature sake house’s seating capacity by about thirty percent. For anyone (like me) who …

Liberty Station fish-to-fork eatery hosts a showdown between some of San Diego's finest craft cocktail innovators.

Craft cocktails are on the rise in San Diego, and with the visionaries have come dozens of late-comers hoping to turn a quick buck off of what may or may not prove to be a passing fad. To showcase the …

New sausage spot in Hillcrest gives Midwestern football food a big-dollar makeover

Salt and Cleaver has been open for a little while, but I hadn’t had a chance to go check it out until just now. The extensive remodel on the building’s interior put a lot of distance between the new restaurant …

Bale Restaurant's special plate has a story

What price broken rice? Was at Bale’s (“Baa-Lay’s”) Restaurant & Deli last night (6925 Linda Vista Road, Suite B, at Ulric Street, Linda Vista, 858-297-2707). Vietnamese. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/23/46156/ Here you expect to find Pho (the French-inspired Vietnamese beef and other broths) …

Local author Jenz Johnson offers a new outlook on the role of mobile devices at meal time.

It this vast and untamed American future, just about everybody carries a mobile device. While most of us have been subjected to impromptu tirades about smartphone etiquette (“not at the dinner table/7-11 checkout/live concert/in public ever”) at the behest of …

The new Queenstown Public House comes with unexpected company in the 1905 house

Hauling up Cedar out of Little Italy, past the Pioneer Hook and Ladder – hey, didn’t that use to be the firehouse museum? - and crossing Columbia when whack! Thar she blows! Former assemblywoman Lori Saldaña’s old HQ. Nice old …

Downtown restaurant's new menu reveals clever sensibilities

The spring menu at Saltbox showed me a few things, chiefly that executive chef Simon Dolinky is a smart guy. I say so because he seems to think outside the box with his dishes. Not in a wild, Wylie Dufresne …

Loris Compiano thought he had the perfect gimmick to get noticed

"So Loris," I say. I've just popped in to his Café Paris (455 10th Avenue, East Village, 619-674-8439) on the way down to Petco Park. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/20/45947/ http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/20/45946/ I remember him for his luscious little plates to go with his wines …

Felix’s BBQ With Soul, original to Oceanside, has a location on Euclid Ave in Lincoln Park. It will be a bit out of the way for some people, but there’s plenty of parking and the lunchtime specials are off the …

What can Tomás López do with his border snack business, when they change the border?

Spare a thought for Tomás López. We're just inside Mexico, about 9:30 at night, at the western side, near the pedestrian entrance. Or what used to be. It's why Tomás has had his coffee, tea, and soup stall here for …

Ice cream sandwiches...you're doing it right!

Some concepts are so foolishly simple they make me facepalm in disbelief at my own lack of inspiration. The Baked Bear in Pacific Beach is like that. The idea is ridiculously concise: custom-built ice cream sandwiches made with fresh cookies, …

Pacific Beach tapas bar nearly strikes out with food and service. Only the drinks are at all on point.

I hadn’t seen a mandatory service charge at a restaurant in quite a while. Then, I went to The Turquoise Cafe-Bar Europa in Pacific Beach, where a gratuity of 17.5% is automatically added to every bill. Unlike some people, I …

Customers at downtown's newest lunchery are seeing red - trolleys

"Are you indecisive?" says Christina. "I'm not sure," I say. "Can't decide." “Touché,” she says. She leaves me to Manny, who's waiting - and waiting - to get my order. Ok, I have been screwing around hemming and hawing between …

The Grand Del Mar's Addison replaces stand-out sommelier

There’s no use crying over spilled milk, but I’ll shed tears over vino. I nearly did last March, when I found out Jesse Rodriguez, the French Laundry and Per Se vet and walking wine encyclopedia regarded by most everyone in …

Kathy's Place delivers on portobello burgers

Oh gosh. Carla and me and Diane are in the Republic of Coronado again. Diane’s just done Carla’s hair, and this Kathy’s Place (250 Prospect Place, 619-522-3600), tucked into one corner of the Sharp Coronado hospital, is the nearest place …

With guest Chef Diego Hernandez of Corazon de Tierra in Valle de Guadalupe.

Chef Chad White has already gotten a number of shout outs in the Reader for his take on Baja-Med cuisine and pop-up dinner series. A few days ago, SDpopup posted a light-hearted bio of White to promote his popup dinner …

Cafe Virtuoso spills the beans on why organic, why Fair Trade

Who is the greenest coffee roaster in San Diego? My money goes to Café Virtuoso (1616 National Avenue, Barrio Logan, 619-550-1830). http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/13/45477/ Why? Because they claim to be the only 100 percent organic coffee roasters company in town. And I …

$5 brats and specialty casks all day.

California Kebab & Beer Garden celebrates a year in Pacific Beach on Saturday, May 18 with $5 brats and specialty casks all day. From the recent happy hour issue: A breath of fresh air for the debaucherous Neverland of PB, …

Lesson one: take the plastic wrap off BEFORE you toss the patty on...

Lucky break: I just make it into the Turf Club (1116 25th Street, Golden Hill , 619-234-6363)... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/11/45356/ ...before the end of happy hour. “It’s noon to 5:00 p.m., Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” says Jackson the barman. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/11/45367/ As usual, you …

College area sub shop has stoner quotes for days and Kool Aid on tap

I’m not totally square, but the menu at the Cheba Hut sub shop out by SDSU makes stoner references that I couldn’t get. The whole place is decorated to embody the chilled-out culture of cannabis consumption. Bob Marley’s portrait overlooks …

Jeff Roberto’s famous sushi banquet and catering operation expands – to let you and me in

Walking the sun-baked east side of National Avenue. Heading for a cawfee at Café Virtuoso, the coffee roasters. They have a little retail thing going, with one table and one yellow umbrella out front. Problem? Ten yards before I get …

El Take it Easy's staff made the transition to Hubcap with blinding speed and not a moment too soon.

Well, that was fast! Not much sooner than I foretold the coming of Hubcap, the restaurant opened up for business. I would have speculated that some unknown delays might have prevented the changeover from El Take it Easy to Hubcap, …

Why parting is sweet minus the sorrow

Faye Avenue brewpub La Jolla Brew House has closed and will reopen under new ownership in several months. Under the old regime that ran it over the past decade, the business gained notoriety ...but not as a brewhouse. La Jolla …

Exemplary spring fare and a new oyster bar in Mission Hills

Last month, I was asked by U-T San Diego for my idea of a perfect spring meal. I noted lamb as the quintessential springtime protein and made mention of peas, morel mushrooms and fiddlehead ferns, including a note that the …

North Park coffee roaster is a hidden gem for self-sequestration and quiet work time.

There are coffee shops that buzz with the jittery excitement of the overcaffeinated, and there are coffee shops that provide a cozy, out of the way nook for anyone who needs peace, quiet, and a cup of joe. Santos Coffee …

La Taquiza food truck is a life-saver for night-time drivers like Michelle

It's 9.25 p.m. Michelle brings her 901 bus in right on time. She says goodbye to the last passengers, kills the engine and then jumps out herself. She heads straight through the parking lot to the little island of lights …

It's not on the pier, but IB's oldest pub delivers its own atmosphere

Oh man: Eat on the pier, or eat here, at Ye Olde Plank? I’m leaning on IB’s sea wall, looking out at the ocean. And from the far end of that lo-ong pier, lights glow across the angry waters. The …

Fashion Valley restaurant has a good deal on a huge plate of food.

I don’t spend much time in the mall, not being a big shopper. But I’d heard that Love Boat Sushi was pretty cool. It’s in the mall, so to the mall I went. Technically, there are Love Boats all over …

Does this Mission Hills spot really have the BEST breakfast burritos?

I had heard through various channels some approximation of the following phrase: “Oh! Dos Brasas in Mission Hills has the best breakfast burritos!” Now, that’s a spurious claim. There’s more than one way to compose a breakfast burrito, and not …

A "Caesoned" professional shows how Caesar’s Salad happens, from coddling the egg to squishing the anchovies

Q: What’s the longest-running argument in the cooking world? A: Who invented the Caesar salad? Was it César Cardini, who it’s named after? Alexander, his brother? Livio Santini, his chef? Beatriz Santini, Livio's mom? A dozen other chefs around LA …

Savor San Diego with Su-Mei Yu airing first episode tonight

I’d known of Su-Mei Yu, the talented chef and owner of popular Thai eatery Saffron (3731 India Street, Mission Hills) for years, but the first time I actually met her was at a pop-up culinary education event in a seafood …

Savory crepes and a good patio make for a winning combo in the Uptown District center.

Bino’s Bistro & Creperie (1260 University Avenue, 619-688-1674) has opened in the Uptown District shopping center. The Eurofying remodel shed light on the formerly cavelike buidling, once home to a Thai restaurant, and the sun now reaches to the buildings …

Did anyone else see this?

I'm sorry if someone else already posted about this... New York magazine's Grub Street blog did a feature on the best pizza in America, and what do you know, amid the frozen delights and pizza meccas, they managed to include …

Not like your bloated versions in El Norte

“This is the true burrito,” says Yanko Quezada. “Not those big fat things you have in San Diego.” It’s nine at night. I’ve just paid Cathy $1 for one of his desebrada burritos... http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/01/44712/ ...here in the tight-packed little TJ …